Life thoughts, gathered from the extemporaneous discourses of Henry Ward Beecher. By one of his congregation.

LIFE THOUGHTS. 99
the man awakes, and looks at his watch, and finds
that it is two o'clock. The sun is two hours high;
he has missed the very thing which he journeyed
so far to see, and, laving but a. single day, must
needs depart as he camlne.
Now, there are men who pray for clearer views
of God, for a greater nearness to him, for an opener
heaven and more resplendent hope. At length,
God, who loves to come in storms, draws near to
them. Their sorrow, their trouble, their confusion
of affairs, the darkness about them, are clouds which
bring God upon their bosom. In that solemn
eclipse, hid behind trouble, God would have taught
an open ear some things which the whole life had
pined to know. He would have shown them time,
men, affairs, the glory of the world, as they see
them who in heaven stand at God's right hand.
But men are so absorbed in their trials that they
neither hear nor see. The disciples lost the solemn
passion of Christ through sleep; and, until now,
sleep or tears have hid from men those very truths
which would have given everlasting wakefulness to
the soul, and wiped all sad weeping from the eyes.
No men have need to be so vigilant, so attentive, so
listening, so appreciative, as those who are in deep
trouble. Sorrow is Mount Sinai. If one will go
up and talk with God, face to face, he must not